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Sunday, February 19, 2012

how to make a felted stone

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I've been making felted stones for several years now and I've often been asked how I make them. There are different ways of making stones, but this is my method, one I've tweaked over time to suit me.

Want to give it a try?

What you'll need:

stones

wool roving

a felting needle

an old clean towel

a bowl

soap (I use dish soap)

a plastic bag

access to hot and cold water

To start, fluff out your roving and pull wisps of it off. Lay these wisps down with the fibers laying in the same direction, slightly overlapping, until you have a mat of fibers forming on the table.

The mat should be slightly wider and roughly 3 times longer than the stone.

Be sure that the first layer of wool is of a consistent depth and there are no large gaps in the mat. The bottom of this layer will be what you see on the outside of your finished stone so it should be as uniform as possible.

Add a second layer of wool with the fibers laying perpendicular to the first layer.

Press down on the mat you've made. If you can feel gaps or if the mat feels unusually thin, add a third layer, again running perpendicular to the layer beneath it.

Lay your stone on the fiber mat. If your stone has a definite top and bottom, position it with the bottom side up. Fold the wool up and over the stone and roll the stone over one time, keeping the wool taut as you roll.

After this first fold, the top of your rock should be facing you.

Fold the side pieces up and over the top of the rock. These sides will pad the top of the stone, giving it a slightly thicker surface than the bottom. This helps the stone sit nicely once felted.

Continue rolling the rest of the wool over the rock, keeping the wool taut but not so tight that you pull fibers out of the mat.

If you don't have a felting needle, you could take the stone right to wet-felting at this point. If you do have a needle, even out the fiber at each end of the stone until you can no longer see where the fiber was rolled.

Fill your bowl with hot water and add a drop or two of soap. Dribble water over the stone gently until all of the wool is wet.

Carefully move the wet stone from one hand to the next, sort of like you're playing catch. You want to treat it gingerly until the wool fibers start to pull together.

Dip the stone back in the water from time to time to keep the wool warm. You can also add a drop of soap to your hands as needed and keep rolling the stone gently. Once the wool starts to hold together a bit, you can start to add a little more pressure. You'll want to be careful not to rough up the surface of the stone, but rather to get those fibers to bind together around the stone.

Once the wool has felted around the stone pretty securely (if you can pinch the wool and separate fibers from the mat, it's not ready yet, keep working) grab your plastic bag.

If the bag has a logo printed on it, make sure to turn this to the inside so the ink doesn't transfer to your stone. Wet the bag, fold the stone up inside it, and rub. This is where you can add some real pressure to the stone. The tiny folds in the plastic bag act as a gentle washboard but the smooth surface keeps the wool from getting scruffy. Rub and roll the stone with the bag until the wool is firmly felted.

Immediately rinse the stone under very cold water (or dip it in a bowl of ice water) while rubbing it with the plastic bag. This will help the fibers lay down nicely.

Lay the wet stone on the towel and leave it to dry. Don't try to force water out of it with a towel, just leave it alone. It's a good idea to use an old towel or a rag as some dyed rovings can leach some color while drying and you wouldn't want that on your pretty tea towels.

Once your stone is completely dry, you can trim off any stray fuzz with a pair of scissors.

And there you have it! A stone cocooned in soft wool. Oh the possibilities.

Do keep in mind that some wool felts better than others. Roving marked "superwash" isn't going to wet-felt for you. Sometimes undyed wool can be harder to felt as well. Some wools like shetland have a scruffier surface. My favorite wools to use for this are corriedale, falkland, polwarth, and merino but experiment and see what works for you.

If you have any questions, please ask them in the comment section and I'll answer them there too.

52 comments:

Lisa,THANK YOU so much for sharing this tutorial. Of course, nobody will ever make stones that are quite as beautiful and ornate as yours. Your added touch is what makes them unique. Can't wait to try this, but I still love having the two sets you made.

purple turtle girl - I've made gobs of stones without the needle. By needling the ends, I don't have to worry about the wool unrolling, and can batch my work. I needle a bunch and set them aside until I can wet-felt them all. Hope you have fun with it.

Thanks so much for the great tutorial. I've loved your work since the first time I discovered it. Now, if only I can make a stone myself--I'll be so happy. And for the embroidery part, is this very tricky? I can't wait to try. Thanks again for being so inpiring!

Thank you for your clear tutorial. We've wet-felted stones before with mixed results. I think your tut will help the kids and I achieve consistency. Your work is always inspiring to us. So glad for your blog.melissa m

I love your process. I've felted over rocks but with varying results. Next time I will follow your tutorial. I love how you used the plastic bag to help agitate the wool with the folds yet keeping things smooth ... I can't wait to get out some roving and get started.

What a great tutorial, Lisa! I've been playing around with wet felting objects for a while now with mixed results. Starting with a bit of needle felting before the wet felting is such a fantastic idea. I found that the end results were so much smoother and uniform. Thanks so much for that extremely helpful tip! When I first begin wet felting I like to place the rock in the toe of a knee high nylon. I think it helps to hold the wool layers together nicely. You do have to be careful though because the fibers sometimes like to migrate through the mesh. But it works great for the those first few minutes of wet felting when the wool feels kind of floppy. Thanks again for taking the time to post this really terrific tutorial.

Is there any concern about moths when making things from wool? I grew up seeing my Mom taking particular care of woolens, handling them carefully, keeping them clean and aired, and storing them in mothballs. I wonder what your thoughts are on this, Lisa. Thank you for so generously providing your excellent instructions for the felted stones.Ruth Hower

Ruth - I haven't had any trouble with moths yet. I keep my wool in bins with lavender and sometimes cedar. I don't use moth balls because that smell does not come out of the wool, even after its been felted, and I've read that it's a possible carcinogen. When I bring in any wool that hasn't been commercially processed, I put it in the deep freeze for a week or so, just in case it's harboring any nibblers.

I don't think you can entirely avoid the possibility of moths, but so far this has worked for me. (knocking on wood)

Jill, for a single egg-sized rock you'll need less than an ounce of fiber. You'll find tons of options on Etsy, both in pre-dyed and un-dyed fiber. You can even find sample packs with several different color or breeds of fibers. That's where I'd start. :D

Thank you for this tutorial! I have dyed some of our wool, so I am ready to try it. I have a question about embroidering them that I hope you might be willing to answer. I have also wondered this about embroidering the faces on already-stuffed dolls. How do you start and stop? Do you make a knot, or use a couple of back stitches? How do you hide them? Thanks again.

Oh my goodness. These are so beautiful. And the embroidered ones! Thank you for the tutorial. (I found you via Pinterest). Your embroidered rocks are flying around! You have some really amazing posts here, I will have to peak around some more!

and you might shake your head - but I did not know that there is actually a real rock inside. I thought it is simply a ball of wool. I have never touched one otherwise I would know of course. thanks for sharing this is great.

Thank you so much for this tutorial. Ever since I discovered your website, I've been in love with felting. The rocks are so fun to do and your tutorial makes it very easy to understand. I'm totally addicted! Thanks again.

Hi Lisa, thanks for your tutorial, I tried it yesterday and it worked out fine! The needling is a good trick, I'll try it out on felting soap as well, next time. I might have a tip for you as well (found in the FUN, a beautiful magazine about felting (german, but also in english!): instead of cutting of any excess fibers with scissors, you could try to shave them of with a dispoasble razor. Tried it, works! All the best from France (are the stones still arriving? :) )

I cannot wait to try this!!! I was hoping to decorate my stones with buttons and and sequins etc is the felted layer created from this technique thick enough to hand sew? Or should I add some more more layers?

Mekelle - this is exactly how I make the stones that I stitch on. The idea with positioning the bottom side of the rock up when you first roll is so you will essentially get two layers of wool on the top of your rock when you're done. I find that sufficient to sew on. If you feel thin spots when you roll it up, then I would add a little more roving in those areas. Good luck!